Device

Nothing taunts a systems administrator like a yellow exclamation triangle in device manager.

After�an HP all in one computer had been worked on to remedy another issue, the only problem that remained was no sound & no webcam. And that stupid little yellow symbol. This appeared after Windows Updates had automatically updated the operating system from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1.

I tried all the usual suspects � disable the driver, uninstall the driver, try to update the driver (already the latest version), install the Realtek High Definition Audio driver directly from the Realtek website, disable the anti virus software etc etc. Every time, after each reboot, device manager taunted me with that little yellow symbol.

Windows XP laptop with a DVD writer not working � can�t see or play CDs or DVDs, not even appearing as a drive letter.

Device manager shows the drive with an exclamation mark and the error:
�Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. To fix this problem you should uninstall and then reinstall the hardware device. (Code 19)�

The troubleshooter suggest uninstalling & reinstalling the device, which gives exactly the same error. Updating drivers & windows etc didn�t help. It was hard to find any information on this message that actually related to the registry.

Today�s lesson is a short one, about the magic of disappearing sound devices.

In Vista, under Control Panel, then Sounds, the first tab is Playback.� Mine shows two devices: Speakers and Realtek�Digital Output.� Whilst�playing around with some settings the other day, I right-clicked on Speakers and selected Disable � and disable they did!� Having been used to network icons that remain with a red X on them when disable, I was most surprised to see my Speakers device completely gone.��A-hunting I went,�not able to find the�darn things anywhere for me to re-enable them�🙁